SINGAPORE – Did you spot a “train” or an “ERP gantry” while walking the aisles at AMK Hub’s FairPrice Xtra? These are part of the Chinese New Year decorations to make shopping fun.

“The ERP here does not refer to Electronic Road Pricing, it refers to Enjoyable, Refreshing and Pleasant shopping,” said Mr Tey Lian Lee, branch manager of AMK Hub’s FairPrice Xtra.

The hypermarket also has decorations which look like street signs, traffic lights, 24 neon signs made from recycled advertisement boards and a 15m-long dragon made from 1,200 recycled drink cans. 

These decorations were put up in the first week of January and will be displayed in the store until the end of the Chinese New Year (CNY) period.

“The store would conventionally hang lanterns, dragons and lions, and red banners but this year, we wanted to make it uniquely Singaporean,” he added.

Preparations began in September, and Mr Tey worked with a team of six staff members to source recycled materials to produce the decorations.

Festive decorations at each FairPrice outlet are planned and set up by the respective branch managers and staff.

“It takes one night to set up but it takes a few months to produce because my staff also have their daily jobs to do,” Mr Tey told The Straits Times.

Mr Goh Yew Seng, 46, who took his four-year-old son Shuo Fan to view the decorations, including a train cabin replica, on Jan 22, said: “I like the decorations because it is something familiar.

“Kids can sit here and relax while we go shopping and I’m sure the kids like it.”

Ms Kelly Lee, 43, a real estate agent, said: “It is very creative to have these decorations in a supermarket, and it is something special – not the usual CNY decorations.”

It’s not just the decorations which were drawing the interest of the customers in the run-up to CNY. On Jan 28, a 30kg giant grouper was filleted in front of eager shoppers.

Madam Doreen Koh, 50, saw a crowd of people gathering around the seafood corner and it piqued her interest. 

“I was very happy because the fish is very affordable and I could tell it was very fresh from seeing how they sliced the fish, so I felt it was worth it to buy a slice,” she said in Mandarin. 

Mr Tey, who has been working at the supermarket chain for more than 30 years, hopes the decorations can make shopping more exciting, especially when it gets stressful during the peak period, when he expects footfall to rise.

“It may be busy and there might be long queues, but if you make the shopping look and feel more comforting and pleasant for shoppers, it would probably be less stressful,” he said.

“Every year is different, so I always think about ideas we need to make the shopping experience better.”